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Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Is It Because They Hate The English?

Surely that can be the only reason that news of the whereabouts of a certain American visitor have been cruelly suppressed all day. Given that a quarter of the Scottish population must work for the RSPB as they appear to be one of the few sizable employers left in Scotland one would think that they could have made an effort and found the damn thing.

I keep telling my wife that all this blogging effort is going to pay off eventually and someone somewhere will recognise my talent and employ me to write about extinct woodpeckers and the like. Until then I'm afraid I'm having to make do with including some adverts in each post. Tonight's ad comes from the Northumbrian Tourist Board. please take a little time to read it before moving on to rest of this post.

Are you from North America? Have you been visiting Scotland? Perhaps the weather and the number of alocholics has put you off. Here in Northumbria we have the perfect place to rest weary legs and enjoy some good food. Pictured above is the location for the very latest place to stay Crane Field Resort. Specially prepared just for you, it's the perfect short break stopover on your way back south, don't be fooled by the weather in our picture that came from Scotland.So Autumn is here, migration in full swing. An hour spare and the options were myriad, northerlies bringing the last of the Long-tailed Skuas perhaps, Booted Warbler needing refinding down the coast, or a little viz mig for large yank cranes?No, courtesy of an annoyingly badly timed deluge everywhere east of my back garden instead I took a nice picture of some berries.

Berries

Surely you had some birds though I hear you all wonder. Well the photographs below don't lie, it's a bird, an odd one, but really leucistic Carrion Crow wasn't high on my list of target species when I left the house. I did my bit, I checked 18 stubble filled fields all suitable for resting cranes. 51 Pink-footed Goose, 18 Herring Gull, three Common Pheasant and an untold number of corvids and Woodpigeon later I ran out of time.

I'll leave you with this thought, somewhere tonight perhaps in a field near you a Sandhill Crane sleeps soundly waiting for you to find it tomorrow, work can wait, find that crane.